In Years Past

March 14, 2013

In 1913, Mrs. Milton Reed of Straight Run, Forest County, while en route to Kane, Pa., died on a Pennsylvania train. Early in the morning she had given birth to a daughter. She was unable to receive needed medical attention in the camp where she resided, so, as a last resort, was placed aboard a train bound for Kane, Pa. to go to the home of her brother-in-law, Frank Reed. As the train was passing through Nansen, Pa., the woman died. At Kane the baby daughter was placed in charge of relatives and the body of Reed was sent back to Forest County.

An item from the Oil City Derrick told of a yearling deer that had been dogged almost to death and was in the custody of a farmer at Dunn's Eddy. The deer would be released within a few days. On Wednesday some boys saw the little wild thing running for its life and heard the hounds although they were too far away to be seen. The deer plunged into the river, swam across and was able to leap a fence that barred its way but the cold water and long run had completely exhausted it and the creature fell, helpless. The lads had no difficulty in capturing it. They took it to a nearby farmhouse where the owner gave it food and shelter.

75 Years Ago

In 1938, Adolph Hitler motored his triumphal way into the capital of a bloodlessly absorbed Austria this day while France and Britain, accepting his coup, maneuvered to keep him from cutting deeper into central Europe. Austria as such had become just a name for the history books - it was as much a part of Nazidom as Berlin. Hysteria swept Austrian Jewry. Hundreds sought to flee the country without much success. Many were arrested. Anti-Semitic terror became a chilling undertone in the ecstasy of Vienna's welcome for the Austro-German Fuehrer. France sought an understanding with Britain to tolerate no further Nazi expansion.

Yeggmen who were surprised while at work on the safe of the Spencer Beverage, Inc. of Washington Street, Jamestown, were being sought by authorities of several states as local police continued an exhaustive probe of a number of clues which might establish their identities. Henry O'Block of Fluvanna Avenue, employee of the beverage company, walked in on the safecrackers just as they had completed hammering the combination from the door of the safe. O'Block saw only one of the gunmen but that was sufficient to stop him dead in his tracks. The gunmen dashed out the Twelfth Street entrance by which O'Block had entered.

50 Years Ago

In 1963, a half-million pounds of steel was scheduled to be unloaded in Jamestown about March 25 to start construction of framework for the $2 million Washington Street Bridge. The first steel delivery, from Cleveland, was expected to arrive here late the following week on Erie-Lackawanna Railroad flatcars. Erection of steel framework for the span across the Chadakoin River would take about six weeks, according to Tom McKenna, project engineer for the contractors, William Higgins & Sons of Buffalo. Completion date for the project would depend on the whims of the weather during the spring and summer.

Oil - liquid black gold - had been struck by two area men who, despite the frigid blustery weather, had kept a drilling rig in operation on the Clare Curtis property, Busti-Sugar Grove Road. Joe Evinczik of Busti and Carl Johnson of Sugar Grove, Pa., who leased the Curtis land, began drilling about the first of the year in hopes of finding the precious fluid. After drilling to a depth of about 517 feet, they hired the services of Dowell, a division of the Dow Chemical Company, to "fracture" the well. The fracturing was completed two days ago with mammoth equipment which included two trucks assembled with airplane motors. These were used to create the pressure to open the ground.

25 Years Ago

In 1988, the scriptwriters' strike was having an effect on television programming. In the current Post-Journal television guide, a large photograph heralded the premiere of the CBS series "The Dictator," starring Christopher Lloyd. But the premiere had been delayed by the strike, and CBS was instead bringing back "My Sister Sam" in that time slot. Viewers were warned that other switches were possible.

It came as a small but meaningful reward to Peggy Say that the people in her hometown were rallying behind her call to remember the hostages in Lebanon. There were many times when it seemed people didn't want to hear about how her brother, journalist Terry Anderson, was still being held. There had been stinging criticism that maybe she was somehow to blame for his prolonged captivity. It was now different. Her brother's defiant expression was seen on posters in the stores and restaurants of the rural upstate town of Batavia, 40 miles east of Buffalo. The posters said: "Remember Terry Anderson on the anniversary of his captivity, March 16, 1988. Please wear a yellow ribbon and pray for the hostages in Lebanon." Anderson was entering his fourth year of captivity.